Photos are still forthcoming, but I didn't like those that I took and then with the holidays hitting I just got behind or flat didn't do anything with the camera.
I did watch Serenity this evening though. Good plot, passable acting, nice linear progression of the story line... The one reason you should run out and buy or rent this video though is because it has a complete lack of previews. I put it in the dvd player and started getting ready to watch the movie. You know, getting a glass of tea, finding the comfortable movie watching pillow, getting situated in the perfect movie watching position, all the things you do while the annoying "Piracy is THEFT!" commercial and previews role forward. Imagine my shock and surprise to find the menu came up promptly to wait patiently for me to hit the play button. I was thrilled, exstatic, overwhelmed. Five seconds in and I was already completely happy I had rented Serenity. SCREW THE STORY, loading the dvd without the annoyances is well worth your money.

Working on some new photos.

I am working on some new photos, but I've been in a photo funk so I don't have anything right now.

Photo: Red Flowers.

I have decided I hate this photo.

New Music!!!!

I ordered three cd's off Amazon two weeks ago and they finally got here. I am so stoked. Ok, so I got The best of Kodo, Shakuhachi Meditation Music, and The Definitive Collection of Don Williams.
I am listening to Don Williams right now. I have been wanting a good collection of his hits for about a year and now I have it. I am going to wear this cd out.
The other two cd's are japanese instrumentals. The Kodo Drummers were featured on soundtrack to Hero. The other cd is a collection of traditional japanese flute pieces. Both are types of music I have been interested in, but just now have something tangible floating around the house. Sadly for these two cd's they aren't going to get the play they probably should because I am going to drown myself in the Don Williams cd.
The sun came out today! It shown all day, but it still didn't break the freezing mark. I had to get up early for a meeting. I got home and went back to bed at 8:00. I slept till 1. It was good, but all night long I had the most bizarre dreams. I cleaned around the house and rearranged my living room. Had some supper and took a two hour nap. I know I have been feeling under the weather, but dang, that's a lot of sleep. Anyway, I am fixing to take a new photo set of some flowers I just bought. Stay tuned for more.

It is way to cold. Today it didn't break the single digits. The low tonight is forecast for negative eleven degrees. I am so tired of the cold and the ice and the snow. I don't know how people live like this for months out of the year. It's been almost two weeks and I am going insane.

Photo: Family Grave Marker.

It's a bit unsettling to see your own name on a grave stone.

Still cold.

It's still cold. The bank clock said four degrees outside. It is supposed to get into the negative digits. The wind chill is already there. This is by far the coldest weather that I have ever lived in. I don't care for it all that much. It snowed some this morning then the clouds cleared away. Snowed more this evening and the clouds are still around as far as I can tell. I do have this nice thing to say about living in the snow. It helps you get traction on the streets. Without the snow it is nothing but ice and I slip and slide on it. Another funny thing you notice is the difference between a dry snow and a wet snow. Seems counterintuitive to have a dry snow, but by comparison, there really is. Dry snow is very crunchy, like raking nails across a chalkboard. Wet snow just compacts and is relatively silent. It is also significantly heavier.
This evening I got a sneek preview of a new site called Plime.com. It should be interesting for some people. I imagine the overwhelming majority of people will be much happier with Google or Yahoo. Would love to tell you more, but I agreed not to along with a number of other people. It will be interesting to see how Plime develops.

Plime.com

Way to cold

It is 5 degrees this morning. Wind chill is around -11. It's to cold to blog.

Where You At?

In as much as building-side paintings advertise a company, they also identify a place. Like a giant note saying You Are Here. Where ever you go, it always helps to know where your are.

Photo: Terminal Warehouse.

Photo: The Spirit Shop.

Building Advertisments

There is a certain romance around old advertisments painted on buildings. We often forget that at one time those ads were vibrant and whole. The temptation to view the current image as what was always there is a product of idealizing the moment. The old ads are intended to make you picture a quiet, rustic place, where life is slow and things are easy. That time never existed. Things were always happening. People were buying and selling and doing. The old ads are just sign posts of a world we have forgotten.

Photo: Mid-State.

Photo: Old Ads.

More snow fell last night. I have to go shovel it.

Photo: Soldier Memorial. Freedom isn't free.

I got my truck back at 5 this afternoon. Everything seems to be working correctly. Set me back 250 dollars to get it fixed, but I wasn't going anywhere unless I did get it fixed. I have to buy a new jacket as well. The old one crapped out yesterday. Why does this crap happen around Christmas time?

Truck is in the shop. Hopefully it will be out today. They had to order a new cylinder. The bearing had gone bad and that was the root of the problem. Photos later today.

Thoughts From the Graveyard

Things you won't find written on gravestones:
Farmer
Banker
Manager
Sales Clerk
Secretary
Professor
Vixen
Individual
Groupie, Preppie, Rocker, Stoner...

Things you will find written on Gravestones:
Mother
Father
Son
Daughter
Baby
Soldier

Photo: Gravestone Column

SUNSHINE!!!

The sun is out this morning. I am so excited. Hopefully, the streets will have a good opportunity to clear. My house is another story. There is a four foot deep snow drift outside my front door. I also called and will take my truck to the shop on Wednesday. Hopefully they can get it fixed within the day. I had hoped to take it in today, but tomorrow is ok. I am ready to not worry about it. Of course, now that this has happened I don't know how much confidence I am going to have in my truck. I had none in the truck before this one. I have had the same truck model for over ten years. Dodge I, lasted from 94-01. I had major problems with it and didn't trust it to take me on long trips without leaving me broken down on the side of the road. I got Dodge II after I totaled out number 1 on Sept 10, 2001. Date sound familiar? Day before Sept 11. The events then helped put my own problems in perspective. Regardless, I will feel much better having it fixed. I should have done this over a year ago.

Still windy. I had to run to Walmart a few hours ago and that was a real trip. I never thought I would be able to say that I have driven in a blizzard. It wasn't fun. When I was loading my things into my truck the electricity went out for the whole extreme west side of town along the highway. It was freaky dark. And Walmart had become a truck stop. Any truck coming through was stopped there. Not a bad place to be all things considered. I don't want to drive anywhere until this clears up though.

Still very windy, blizzardy conditions outside. I am in the house. The only time the door has opened was to take those snapshots. I bet there are some amazing photos to be had, but I don't do cold well, so someone else will have to take them. Besides, the wind is still blowing around 40 miles an hour. Ungh!

Photo: Snow Bound. 

Photo: Snow Bound. 

Photo: Snow Bound. This is the view outside of my house this morning. I hate snow.  

Photo: Bar Sign. Unused Negative Space Entry.

Photo: Cantina Entrance. Unused entry in the Negative Space comp over at Worth1000.

Out of Photos...Wrong(edit)

Crud, I'm out of building photos. I was going to post two to make up for missing Saturday. I'll go edit some graveyard photos. Seems appropriate for a snowy night.

Never mind. I forgot I had two other photos stashed away that I was going to use in a contest over at Worth. Turns out the contest was already closed.

Photo: Window Nook. Side view of an architectural feature from the Paramount building.

BLIZZARD!

This morning I woke up and checked the forecast. We have been expecting snow and wanted to know how far away it was. I was greated with a blizzard warning starting at noon and extending until six this evening. JOY! I have never been in a blizzard, this will be a first. Well, it didn't start really start snowing until sometime between 6 and 8:45. I don't know when b/c I was asleep. I crashed hard. I woke up to the sound of my answering machine resetting. The power flickered. I get up and the wind is howling. Currently a constant forty something miles an hour with stronger gusts. I checked and we are now in Blizzard watch. Which I suppose means the blizzard is upon us. I can't tell you how helpless I feel with my truck ailing. I don't like driving around on snow anyway and it is magnified a thousand times because of my vehicle problems. So I am in a de facto state of trapped. At the moment we have far more wind than snow, but we can expect accumulations of five to eight inches. Although most of that will melt off on Tuesday. It isn't supposed to be much warmer, but the ground hasn't cooled off enough for the snow to stick. When I moved to Nebraska I figured that snow would cover the ground constantly through the winter. Fortunately that isn't true, but it does get cold and stay cold. This next week is supposed to be in the lower forties for highs. Winter is upon at last and it looks here to stay. I miss summer. I am fixing to work on some photos to get posted.

Truck Problems

I didn't post a photo on Saturday. I thought about on my in to town. I would have posted a photo on Saturday, except my truck is wanting to spin its left front tire off. Gosh this is a long story. The short of it today is this. I had to go buy pants. No one in town has what I need. I ended up leaving at 1:00. Before I left I thought I should tighten the nut on my tire, but didn't because I had just done a few days ago. It should have been months before that needed to be done again. Twenty minutes into the trip I have to pull over and tighten. I get back on the road and have no problems until I get on the road back to town. I don't even get back on the road before I have to tighten the nut. I do and get ten miles down the road. Stop tighten again. I manage to get back to Wal-mart and hope I can piece something together to get me back home. I went for the option of last resort, J.B. Weld. I wait an hour for it to cure and then head back. It held for 45 miles. 15 miles away from home I have to stop and tighten the nut again. I get home and look and guess what, it needs to be tightened again. I am so pissed off abaout this. All in all a thirteen hour odyssey that should have only been a 5 hours at the most. And I still have so much stuff to do before I sleep. Tomorrow is not going to be fun. Make that today. It's already Sunday. I'll post two photos later.

Photo: Paramount Entrance. This is the entrance to the Paramount Apartments. This building used to be the YMCA, but was converted to residential apartments a few years ago before I moved to town.

Cemetery Shoot

I went over to one of the cemeteries here in town and shot some photos this afternoon. I haven't edited any of them yet, but I will be getting to that and putting them up. I also walked around town looking for advertisments painted on buildings. I found a good mix of old and new. I'll be posting some of those soon as well.

Photo: Train entrance/exit 3.

Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving has come and is now leaving. I didn't go anywhere or have anyone over. I cooked for myself and sat around the house all day and had a really great time. I enjoyed cooking and just chilling. All the women I know who think they are my mothers were paranoid about me sinking into depths of lonliness never before seen. Which is odd, because that never happens. Regardless, I enjoyed the holiday. I hope yours was excellent as well.

Photo: Train 2. Close up of the entrance/exit to the train station. Pic 2 of the station series.

Tough All Over

Music Review! I have had the new cd by Gary Allen "Tough All Over" for about two weeks now. It is an incredible cd with substantive songs.
Now, for the record, this is the first cd by Gary that I have ever bought. I usually don't buy something unless I hear a song on the radio that I can't get enough of. Then I go and buy the cd. The first single from the cd is "Best I Ever Had." I've been hearing it for the past few months and couldn't get enough of it. So when I had some spare cash, I went out and bought the cd. You should too. I went looking around for some background on the cd and found out that over the past year Gary has been dealing with his wifes suicide. Writing and recording helped him to deal with his own emotions and pull him through the healing process.
No where is this more evident than in "I Just Got Back From Hell." Gary wrote it and knowing the background of the cd you can hear his pain and also struggle to recover. By far my favorite cut from the cd. His pain is echoed in the last song on the album "Putting My Misery On Display."
"Ring" tells the story of a break up from the wedding rings perspective. In "Promise Broken" you hear the broken promise weave it's tale of woe. "He Can't Quit Her" is another sad tale about a man who falls in love with a woman for sale. When his love isn't returned... Well, let's just say things don't end well.
A darker cd than you might typically expect on contemporary country playlists, but few other cd's out there have the substance that "Tough All Over" has. The music itself pulls strongly from traditional country music. It is well produced and sounds fantastic. When Brad Paisley was hitting the charts many wondered why a strong singer wasn't selling as many albums as would be expected. I personally think Gary is a stronger singer than Brad and the songs that he chooses to record are better lyrically. While Gary has undoubtedly had commercial success, he is in my opinion one of the most underrated country performers and one of the strongest out there.
GaryAllan.com
From the back cover:
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, call 1-800-SUICIDE or go to the National Mental Health Association at www.nmha.org for more information.

Photo: Train 1. Amtrak Station here in town. This is the entrance/exit facing the train itself. The building is wonderful to look at on the outside, but the inside is very dated. Not a place you would want to sit for a long time.

I can Breathe!

Note to self: Don't hit enter before you've typed in an entry.
I Can Breathe! I woke up this morning and wasn't crippled by a sore throat and I could actually pull air through my nostrils. Last night I could barely breathe for all the mucus clogging my head. My throat was a little sore, but nothing like it was yesterday. And the sun is shining again today. All in all it's been a good morning. I woke up and rode my bike five miles. Got to the office and actually manage to accomplish something. So a good day so far.

Retry on Profile goodness.

Photo: Bank Building Black and White. I was playing with this photo and really not liking it. I ended up converting it to black and white on a lark and then it really worked for me. This building is no longer a bank, but no one has taken it over and changed the lettering.

Monday is no better.

Yesterday was a very long day. I ripped a hole in my pants by the pocket and that was pretty much the straw that broke the camels back. It was long and I wasn't feeling good. But the sun shone all day long and wasn't covered by clouds or blown around by the wind, so that was a shining moment.
Today hasn't been much better. The sun shone again, but I am sick. I left work early and came home. I slept for four straight hours. It felt good, but of course I woke up with sore throat that made me want to hurt small woodland creatures for no reason. I got up and made some supper and now I am here. Hopefully I am moving past this sickness real soon.

Photo: Red Roof. I really don't like this picture in and of itself. The house was ugly and the location I was in made for a horrible shot. But, the roof really caught my eye. I wish I had more zoom and been in a better spot to just capture it.

Sunday

Well, another Sunday half way gone. I managed to rip a hole in a pair of pants. Life sucks.

Photo: Willis Building. This is the second go round for this pic. It was slightly askew and driving me crazy. I was going to just ignore it but I couldn't. This is the Willis Building fixed and corrected.

Parallel Lines

Keeping parallel line parallel in photos is an art in and of itself. You need to keep a good amount of distance between yourself and your subject to maintain the correct line. This means if you want to get close you are going to have to zoom in. My camera doesn't have enough zoom to do that. I also noticed after my last round of photographing, that the camera captures more of an image than it shows in the eye piece. I don't like to use the live view so I can preserve my batteries. For a wide shot that isn't a problem, but for anything zoomed in I have to keep the amount of the picture captures in mind. Macro shots have to use the live view because the parallax can be a pain.

Red Building. This will be revisited in the future. I like the setup, but the color is really wrong.

Rough start.

I've had a rough start this week. My original idea was to have a theme for each week. I was going to start out with Abstract images, but my creativity was lacking and so I kept stalling. Today I went around town taking pictures to at least get started. I have also been trying to figure out if I want to use Bloggers tools for posting the photos or host them somewhere else. For the time being I am going to use blogger since it is free. It's going to hurt the quality of some of the images, but all the more incentive to get great images starting out.

Purpose

I am going to try and post one new picture each day of the week. I am trying to improve my photo skills and also share what I see around me. I may also throw in other stuff, but the idea is to feature the pictures.